Q.  What is Ensuring the Legacy?
A. Ensuring the Legacy is a comprehensive campaign initiative that was launched in response to long range planning efforts by Dana Hall’s Board of Trustees. The School identified specific needs, including endowment, which are imperative for the long-term financial health of the School. Ensuring the Legacy focuses on endowment, capital projects, current initiatives and increasing annual giving. Through this comprehensive initiative, Dana Hall will increase endowment to reinforce curricula, strengthen compensation for faculty, and increase financial aid, while also increasing the Annual Fund. Dana Hall currently is in the “public phase” of this initiative, meaning all Dana Hall constituents are invited to participate in this exciting community endeavor.

Q. Why is this an important initiative for Dana Hall?
A. The primary purpose of the campaign is to support endowment. Gifts to endowment will allow the School to carry out its proposed initiatives, above and beyond the current operating budget.  With increased endowment, Dana Hall will have the additional resources to:

· Support and enhance the effectiveness and professional vitality of faculty and staff.

· Maximize each student's educational and personal development by continuing to improve the quality of each girl’s experience.

· Increase financial aid to ensure a diverse socioeconomic community.

Q. How does Dana Hall’s endowment compare to other schools?
A. Dana Hall School’s endowment of $21 million is low in comparison with other leading girls’ boarding/day schools and in comparison with our local peer schools. The schools that thrive are the ones that are taking care of themselves financially.  Not only will increasing the endowment allow us to undertake important initiatives that will benefit our community, but it also will ensure the future financial health of the School. Smart schools are building their endowments in order to keep their competitive edge and to ensure their future.

Q. Who manages the School’s endowment?
A. The school’s endowment is managed by the Investment Committee of the Board, which recommends and makes changes to the portfolio. The committee oversees the performance of various investments on a monthly basis and meets with each investment company to review fund performance and key changes within the investment company. The committee also ensures that the endowment follows the approved guidelines, which include maintaining a balanced portfolio that preserves and grows the investments of the School.

Q. What do you mean when you say this is a comprehensive campaign?
A. During this comprehensive effort, every contribution made to Dana Hall, whether through the Annual Fund or another gift-giving program, counts as a contribution to Ensuring the Legacy. By looking at our fundraising efforts as a whole, we can better coordinate the planning and uses of all the different gifts we receive. For these reasons, every major gift solicitation will include an integrated and simultaneous request that donors consider sustaining or increasing their level of Annual Fund support while making a major gift to the campaign. Annual Fund gifts are a critical part of the campaign objectives and to the mission of the School on a year-to-year basis.

Q. I heard there was an effort to raise money for the Shipley Center. What ever happened with that effort?
A. There was a fundraising effort called Vision into Action, which raised necessary funds to build the Shipley Center. With the benefit of early leadership gifts and the economy, Dana Hall took advantage of low interest rates and secured a bond to expedite the building process. Within a little more than a year, the Shipley Center for Athletics, Health, and Wellness was built, without a far-reaching fundraising effort. This facility has already had a significant impact on the community and on admission inquiries. Gifts and pledges made to The Shipley Center will count towards the Ensuring the Legacy initiative.

Q. How does the Annual Fund fit into the Ensuring the Legacy initiative? Will I be asked to support both?
A. During the Ensuring the Legacy initiative, your contribution to the Annual Fund remains important.  Endowment gifts and Annual Fund gifts have distinct, but equally important, purposes in assuring Dana Hall’s continued health. Maintaining and growing the Annual Fund is important for Dana Hall in order to keep tuition increases at a reasonable level. Therefore, the goal will be to increase giving to the Annual Fund during the endowment initiative.

The Annual Fund is designed to support the School’s current year operating expenses. Annual Fund gifts contribute to the difference between what tuition covers and the actual cost of running the School. Such gifts are usually unrestricted and support the current year's highest priorities, while helping to maintain a balanced budget. Annual gifts help support competitive salaries for a world class faculty, the latest educational technology, library acquisitions, the preservation of our buildings and grounds, library resources, student scholarships, and virtually every area of day-to-day activity at the school.

Dana Hall’s endowment is a collection of gifts received from multiple generations of alumnae, parents, faculty and friends. The School spends only a percentage of the income from endowment, while protecting and maintaining its principle. Endowment helps take the pressure off the operating budget by contributing to the School’s annual operating revenues. The School carefully manages its endowment for two important reasons: to preserve its value for the future and to support current operations.

Q. Is there a minimum gift level to establish a named endowed fund?
A. The minimum gift level to establish a named endowed fund is $100,000. Establishing a named fund provides the opportunity for you to honor a great teacher or a loved one by permanently associating them with an endowed initiative such as financial aid or faculty compensation.

Q. What are the advantages of making a gift of appreciated securities?
A.  An outright contribution of long-term appreciated securities relieves you from paying capital gains tax on those securities and entitles you to a charitable deduction equal to the fair market value of the securities. Because you avoid the capital gains tax, it is usually more advantageous to contribute appreciated securities directly rather than to sell them and give the proceeds of your sale. This means that you can leverage a larger donation if you use an appreciated asset to make your gift instead of cash.

If you own securities that have decreased in value, it is better to sell the depreciated stock, claim the resulting tax loss as one deduction, then make a deductible cash gift to Dana Hall with the proceeds.

Q. Why is planned giving advantageous?
A. There are a number of ways that a donor can make a sizable future gift to Dana Hall School while enjoying increased income and reduced taxes.  Planned gifts are arrangements that have specific tax advantages and often include lifetime income to a beneficiary named by the donor.  A planned gift can maximize your giving potential and can allow you to ensure your financial future or that of a loved one. It is important that you seek legal and tax counsel, where appropriate.